Improvement in electric signaling apparatus for railways



' 3Sheets--Sheet 1.' n. A. STEUD'ELL.

ElectrmSignalling Apparatus for Railways} $10,155,596,- Patgnted Oct.6,1874.

wiligssc Ihven m THE GQAPHIOCO.PHOTO*LITH.39L+I PARK PLACEJLY v UNITEDSTATES RICHARD A. STEUDELL, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGN OR OF ONE-HALFPAT NT OFFICE,

HIS RIGHT TO HERMANN G. NUSCHELER, OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT lN ELECTRIC SIGNALING APPARATUS FOR RAILWAVS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 155,596, dated October6, 1874; application filed May 11,- 1874. e

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, RICHARD A. STEUDELL, of the city of Chicago, in thecounty of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Electro- Magnetic Engines, of which the followingis a full description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,in which- Figure 1 is a top or plan view; Fig. 2, aside view with thewheels all-removed and Figs. 3 and 4, side and face views of thecircuitbreaker; and Fig. 6 is a side elevation, showing the connectionwith the engine.

The nature of my invention consists in providing a self-actingelectro-magnetic engine to be connected with each passenger or othertrain, and in advance thereof, so as to convey,

signals back to the engineer, or other person on the train, in time tostop the train before reaching the point of danger, and in the severalimproved combinations of devices for operating the engine, hereinafterset forth and claimed.

. In the drawings, A represents the bed-frame;

B, the wheels; C, the battery; D, the conv necting-bar between theseveral cups or sections of the battery; E, F, and G, the electromagnetsfor operating the driving-wheels; H I, the electro-magnets for operatingthe brake;

J, the brake-bar; K, the brake-wheel; L, the

frame-work for connecting the truck with the bed or platform, and forsupporting the magnet G; M, the frame-work 'for supporting the magnet E;N, the frame-work for supporting the magnet F; O, the cylindricalarmature for operating the driving wheels; I, the axles Q, the truck;It, the brace-bars or frame-work connecting the truck and the platform;S, the journal-boxes; T, the bar or post for supporting and pivoting thebrake-bar; U, the brace or supporting bar of the frame L; V W, theontrunners for detecting broken rails; X, the

projecting bar for signaling obstructions; Y,

the circuit-breaker; a, the wire for connecting the rail-indicatorV Wwith the battery; b, the wire connecting the electro-niagnets with thebattery, and extending as a single wire to the binding-post c, andthrough that to the plate 0,- c, the plate; d, the wire extending fromthe plate 0 to one side of the magnetE; c, the wire faces. well-knownforms, and provided with a flange extending from the same plate to oneside of the magnet F; f, the wire extending from the same plate to oneside of the magnet G; g, the wire extending from the same plate to themagnet I; h, the wire extending from the same plate to the magnet H; 'i,the wire extending from the outrunner or track-indicator'to the magnet Ij, the wire extending from the binding-post e to the bar T, and throughthat and the brake-lever to the magnet H; k, the nonconducting sides ofthe circuit breaker'; l, the metal center of the same; on, thecross-bars connecting the two heads of the cylindrical armature; n, thespring-arm connecting the magnet F with the circuit breaker; o, thespring-arm connecting the magnet E with the circuit-breaker; p, thespring-arm connecting the magnet G with the circuit-breaker q, copperplates; 9', spring connecting the plates q; 8, copper plate or springconnecting the binding-post c with the wire 1'; t, the wire connectingthe magnet F with the binding-post d; a, plate forming part of thespring 0,- o, the wire connecting the said spring with the magnet E; w,the head-block; w, the wire extending back to connect this engine withthe train; the other connecting-wire is connected.

with the binding-post c, and is not shown;

a, I), c, d, and c, the binding-posts; y, the

swin or rest for chan in the current when the lever or armature J dropsat the rear end; z, the'wire connecting the magnet G with the spring 1);f, the journal-bearings for the rockshaft; g, the pitman; h, the

wrist or crank-pin connecting the pitman Ewith one of thedriving'whecls; i, socket in the rock-shaft for connecting abell-hammer; j, the rock-shaft; k, descending arm connecting therock-shaft with the pitman g.

The platform A is made of wood or of metal,

provided with suitable non-conducting sur- The wheels 15 are made of anyof the to fitthe rails. The battery C is made, as shown, of two cups,which are of an operating size, and are, therefore, shown much larger inproportion than they will be in a full-sized machine.

I propose to use any of the well-known batteries which are suitable, andto use a number of cups with part of them,,so arranged that they can bethrown on or off to increase or diminish the speed of the engine. Asshown, the wire b is connected with the positive pole; but in use, theconnection may be made either way-that is, with the positive or negativepoles, as may be desired. 7

E F G are modified forms of the horseshoe or double magnets, and aremade with the usual coils and connections. H and I are single magnets,and do not operate in the movement of the engine further than the brakeis concerned. The lever J is madeof metal, and is a double-actingarmature, one end acting upon the magnet H, and the other upon themagnet I; and in its operation, when the rear end is depressed, as shownat Fig. 2, it presses upon the wheel or drum K, which is attached to therear axle, and is the brake for the engine. L, M, and N are frames,which support their respective magnets, and aremade of wood, as at L M,or of metal, as at N, and when made of metal they are to be providedwith some suitable non-conducting material, as shown at 1, Fig. 1.

The revolving armature is permanently attached to the front axle, whichcarries the driving-wheels,- and is made of two circular plates, whichare attached by means of a hub,

or otherwise, and are connected together at the outer edges by means ofmetal cross-bars m, which are sufficiently long to separate the circularplates 0 far enough to bring them outside of the cores of the magnets EF G.

Thetruck-frame Q .is made of metal and supported upon the axles P in anysuitable manner, and the platform is supported above it by means of thebars R. But this part of the machine may be constructed in any suitablemanner. Both pairs of wheels may be driving-wheels, if desired, and inorder to do this it will only be necessary to duplicate the revolvingarmature upon the rear axle, and provide the necessary magnets foroperating it. In this event the brake will require a differentadjustment, as it will then be necessary to place one or more of them atthe sides instead of at the center, as here shown. The outrunner orbroken -rail indicator V W is made of two metal bars. The lower one, W,is made to spring or yield, so that in case of 'a broken or misplacedrail it will drop down,

as indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 2, and break the connectionbetween it and the bar V, which isrigid. The connection between the twobars is simply one of contact, and is onlymaintained when the bar W,withits little wheel, is in proper position on a rail,

The bar X is located centrally, and is held in position by means of acoil-spring, as shown, and is supported in the head block w. It may beprovided in front with a button, as shown, or with a vertical bar, whichwill give it a greater range of operation.

As this machine is to be self-moving or an electromagnetic engine, aswell as a signalingengine, a considerable proportion of the devices areused in propelling it. For eficcting this. movement the magnetic currentis passed to the magnets E F G, and from them to the circuit-breaker Y,whichis placed on the'axle on the end of the revolving armature oppositeto the one shown. This circuit-breaker is made of an outer section orwalls, k, of hard rubber or other suitable non-conducting substance, andan inner section, I, of metal cut away at its periphery, so as only toleave points or small sections on a line with the walls It. These metalpoints are arranged with reference to the bars at on the revolvingarmature, so that by the successive action of the three magnets E F Gthe armature will use, so that the speed can be easily and rap-- idlycontrolled. For the purpose of stopping the-engine I have arranged thebrake J K. The brake -bar J, which also serves as an armature, ispivoted to the bar T, and when the driving mechanism is-in operation therear end is held up against and by the magnet I. Whenever the droppingof the bar W breaks the circuit, by destroying the contact between itand the bar V, or whenever the barX meets an y obstruction sufficient tocrowd back the spring 0", the current is broken and by means of suitableconnections passes from the magnet I to the magnet H, so that the bar Jwill drop into the position shown at Fig. 2, and press upon thebrake-drum K, not only with the force of its own weight and that of theweight of the ball attached, but also with the power of the magnet Happlied at the opposite end. Whenever the bar J drops it comes incontact with the spring y, which connects the current with the wire .90,which is connected with the steam-engine or with the train, and theresounds an alarm. When the machine is in order ona proper track thecurrent passes through the driving-magnets, and its power is expended inrunning the machine, but if from any cause the current is broken it isthen shifted to the brake and alarm magnets H I, so that the machineceases to run, and conveys an instant alarm to the rear, the brake beingused to overcome the momentum after the power has ceased to be applied.When themachine is built of a sufficient size to run upon an ordinaryrailway-track, it will be evident that a larger number of drivingmagnetscan be applied, if desired, and there will also be duplicate brake andalarm magnets, so that an alarm will be conveyed from any obstructionwhich afl'ects one'of the bars W without afiecting the other. In themachine, as shown, a broken rail will only be indicated on the sideconnected with the wire it In use, two wires connecting this engine withthe train will be necessary, but they canbe twisted into a single coil,with as many more as may be needed, for-operatin g the indicators andattachingor detaching the cups in the battery.

It is designed to run this engine from three to five hundred feet inadvance of the train, or sufficiently far to enable the engineer to stophis train, in case an alarm is sounded from this engine, before reachingthe obstruction or break which caused the alarm. It will also benecessary to provide the steam-engine or car, where the connection ismade with the train, with a drum operated by springs or weights to takeup slack or pay out additional wire, in order to overcome anyinequalities between their movements, and keep the wires from draggingon the ground. The wire will be connected at the train with any suitablealarm-bell, and such other devices as may be desired for giving alarms,and also for indicating the speed, which is to be underthe control ofthe engineer or other person on the train.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,-is-

1. The combination, w1th a signaling instrument situated upon arailroad-train, of an electro-magnetic engine, running in advance ofsuch upon the same track, and of conductors electrically connecting suchengine and signal apparatus, the latter being controlled by theelectromagnetic engine, and caused to signal an approach to danger,substantially as herein shown and described.

2. The combination of the signaling-magnets H and I with thearmature-lever J and brake-drum K, constructed and operatingsubstantially as set forth.

3. The combination, in a magnetic-engine, of the driving-magnets E, F,and G, with the signaling and brake magnets'H and I, all

RICHARD A. STEUDELL.

l/Vituesses L. L. BOND, O. W. BOND.

